PRO FOOTBALL REPORT : WEEKDAY UPDATE : RAMS : Even Defeat Can Be Fun for Rookie

Call this one a rookie faux pas. Certainly, Bern Brostek was the only player in the Rams’ locker room Sunday talking about how much fun he had during the 36-24 loss to Green Bay.

“I was nervous as heck at first, but it was really fun,” Brostek said.

Brostek committed some rookie mistakes on the field as well, but the Rams’ first draft choice made a good impression on the right people during his NFL debut. At the University of Washington, he was a four-year starter at center. With the Rams, he is a one-game starter at right guard.

And depending on how quickly Joe Milinichik rebounds from thumb surgery, Brostek might get another start.

“He missed some things and all that, but it was a physical performance,” Coach John Robinson said. “We clearly have a really good player. We put him in his first NFL game in a position he didn’t know anything about, and he performed pretty well. That’s a good sign.”

Brostek did have the advantage of four days of practice at guard and found out Saturday night that he would be the starter. So who needs to sleep the night before a football game?

“I was tossing and turning, thinking about my plays,” Brostek said. “I was just praying I would remember my assignments.”

Not surprisingly, he missed some, but he did an impressive job of slamming his 6-foot-3, 295-pound body into a good portion of the Packers’ defensive front.

The Rams had 11 players in Sunday’s starting lineup who were either not on the team, not starters or started in a different position on opening day last season: tight end Pat Carter, right tackle Duval Love, running back Gaston Green, punter Keith English, defensive tackle Brian Smith, inside linebackers Frank Stams and Fred Strickland, cornerbacks Bobby Humphery and Mickey Sutton, free safety Anthony Newman and Brostek.